PUZZLE #365: Pent Words 17

PUZZLE #365

PENT WORDS 17

For this puzzle, you must divide the grid into pentominoes (they’re sorta like Tetris pieces, except they’re areas made up of five squares each) and put a letter in each cell. The rows, reading from left to right, will contain the words hinted at by the ACROSS clues. The letters in the pentominoes, reading left to right beginning with the top row, will form the words hinted at by the PENTOMINOES clues; these clues are presented in no particular order. (In the example above, the rows spell out CHINS, PARTY, and ANKLE, and the pentominoes spell out the words CHINA, STYLE, and PRANK.) Use the across answers to figure out where the pentominoes go.

Once you're done, combine the two unclued pentominoes to get this week's FINAL ANSWER: a two-word phrase

ACROSS (Two answers per row)

1) Bushes usually less than 20 feet tall

    The Way Things _____ (educational kids' book with mechanical diagrams)

2) Bar such as The Queen Vic from EastEnders

    Bacon and eggs' cooking surface

3) Clay-rich soil

    Picabo Street's sport

4) Montezuma, for one

    Marvel antihero who battles Carnage in a 2021 film sequel

5) Eyelash thickener

    French water

6) "Shakespearean" board game where you flip black and white discs

    Annual fan gathering, for short

7) "I beg to _____!"

    Dessert stolen by the Knave of Hearts

8) Cash in a coupon

    "Potent" prefix that's also a hotel chain

9) Nadir's opposite

    Full of good cheer

10) Last name of Wendy from Peter Pan

      The _____ Yorker (magazine whose website has weekly cryptic crosswords)

PENTOMINOES (Five letters per answer)

• HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• THE OTHER HALF OF THE FINAL ANSWER

• Mel Meh or Jailbreak from a terrible 2017 animated movie, e.g.

• Largest artery

• Link's bladed weapon in the Legend of Zelda series

• Nut in the name of a squash variety

• Recurring, symbolic story element

• Iced tea brand co-owned by PepsiCo and Unilever

• Hermit crab's home

• Shipping company for “when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”

• Tacky humanoid lawn ornament

• Calvin who founded his namesake fashion house in 1968

• "Fake it _____ you make it"

• Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey

• Raise one's shoulders and go "I dunno..."

• Destination for the Fifth Pillar of Islam

• Overwhelming apprehension

• He's second in an alphabetical list of vice presidents (after Adams)

• Submarine used in both World Wars: Hyph.

• _____ Out (jukebox musical with Billy Joel songs)

Once you think you know what the FINAL ANSWER is, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fry3jK4eVHFKVxleMXaRQVtcH4h-t-TC/view?usp=sharing